Influences of context load and sensibleness of background photographs on local environmental context-dependent recognition

The present study explored which theory can best explain local environmental context-dependent recognition. One type of theory (encoding specificity principle) posits that recognition reflects remembering of the past episode, whereas the other theory (ICE: Item Context Ensemble) posits that recognition reflects familiarity-based judgements. In three experiments, a total of 120 undergraduates intentionally studied a list of unrelated words superimposed on background photographs. Half of the photographs contained a specific area where words are typically presented (sensible photographs), and the other half contained no such area (insensible photographs). Context loads were 24, 20, and 4 for Experiments 1, 2, and 3, respectively. After a filled 5-min retention interval, participants received a recognition test. The old words and the same number of new words were randomly presented at test one at a time, and participants were required to respond whether each word was old or new. In the same-context condition, words were presented at test on the same photograph as at study, whereas in the different-context condition, a new background photograph was presented at test. Context-dependent recognition discrimination was found only with the sensible photographs but not with insensible ones in Experiments 1 and 2, whereas both sensible and insensible photographs showed significant context-dependent recognition discrimination in Experiment 3. Experiments 1 and 2 showed the concordant effects, but no effect in the false alarm rate was found in Experiment 3. The present results imply that there are remembering- based and familiarity-based production mechanisms for local environmental context-dependent recognition. The context load may mediate the shift from one to the other.